


Blood

by fuckthenaysayers



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Blood, Hemophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2086860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckthenaysayers/pseuds/fuckthenaysayers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Michael, Michael look! I'm not the only clumsy cook!"</p>
<p>Gavin hurried over to the front door, grinning as Michael walked in, looking somewhat confused.</p>
<p>"What?"</p>
<p>Ryan walked in, rolling his eyes as he held up his hand, a makeshift bandage of paper towels wrapped around his thumb, the towel soaked red from a fresh cut. Michael stared at it, panicking as he felt his head go woozy, eyes rolling back and then- nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood

Michael was a tough guy. He was the kind of guy who would have your back in a fight, no questions asked. He sat through getting three incredibly detailed tattoos and hardly reacted to the pain. He would wrestle and horse around with any of the guys any day, and had no trouble doing all sorts of crazy stunts or dares. So when he realized he was scared of blood, he felt a need to hide it.

It had surfaced years ago, back in high school. Blood wasn't the sort of thing you see very often, so the first time he realized his problem, it'd been in the middle of a fight with some kids from school. One had gotten a good hit on his nose and he felt something flowing from it. Wiping at it, he pulled back a hand smeared with blood, and fainted on the spot. The other guys figured he'd just gotten hit one too many times, and never mentioned it, but Michael knew what had done it. The deep red liquid chilled him to the bone when he saw it, and he could feel himself losing control of his body before things went dark.

At first, he told his mom about it and they went to a therapist to find out what made him have such a severe reaction. After a few sessions, the therapist linked it to something in his childhood, a repressed memory Michael had from when he was 8 and witnessed a deadly car crash. The pooling blood seeping from the wreckage had cemented itself in his mind, and brought with it a crippling sense of fear that resurfaced whenever he saw blood again.

He was told that more therapy could possibly help him, and they tried for a while, but Michael ultimately gave it up, saying it was a waste of his mom's money when he only came into contact with blood on a very rare basis. So he learned to live with it. He got through fights by always aiming for the stomach or chest, the face was more likely to bleed so he rarely sent a hit that way. He played it safe and never did anything too dangerous, making sure to not leave himself open to the possibility of hurting himself to the point of blood.

Eventually it became a thing he hardly thought about, only surfacing once or twice. He'd been scared he might see some when he first had sex, but that fear was quelled thanks to a very experienced first partner, and by the time he'd gotten into the relationship he had with his five fellow hunters, he didn't think he'd have any reason to worry about seeing blood for a long time.

He couldn't hide from it forever, and every now and then something would happen that'd put him in danger of revealing his secret.

\--

"Ah, bloody hell..."

"What's wro-"

Michael peeked over at Gavin and saw the other man clutching at a finger. He and Gavin were on dinner duty, and in the middle of making some simple chicken dish Jack found for them. Of course no matter how simple, if Gavin got stuck chopping something up, he typically nicked himself.

"I'll go get you a band-aid."

The curly-haired man left without waiting for a response, thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't seen any actual blood. He took a few minutes, fumbling in the bathroom cabinet before coming back out with a band-aid and glancing at Gavin, concerned.

"You okay? Did you clean it up some?"

"Yeah, it was just a little slice. Can I have the plaster?"

"If you call it a fucking band-aid. Like it is."

"Whatever."

Gavin laughed a little, snatching the bandage from Michael and wrapping it around his finger before showing it to Michael and grinning.

"Good as new."

\--

"Watch me take this hill like a fucking pro."

"Geoff, please."

Ray called out after their eldest lover, the man giggling excitedly as he sped up on his bike and started rushing down the hill they'd just gotten to the top of. In an effort to get Ray and Ryan outside more, the group had started doing weekly bike rides together, taking the chance to enjoy some fresh air and exercise together. Of course, this made the more risky ones of their group try dumb little stunts, like pulling wheelies or hopping curbs. Geoff and Gavin were the main culprits, though all of them tried stuff now and then if it looked like fun.

"Aw shit!"

Geoff's voice rang up to them and when Michael looked he realized he couldn't see Geoff's bike anymore. A light crashing noise echoed in his ears and he realized the man had tried to take their next turn too harshly and ended up falling off his bike. They hurried over, though Michael stayed to the back of the pack when he noticed Geoff was clutching a leg.

"I skinned my knee! I haven't done that since I was fucking 12, man I'm an idiot."

"Yeah you are, now come on and get up, we should head back and clean that up. It looks like you broke the skin a bit."

Jack chastised Geoff for his stunt and held a hand out, helping him up. Michael was focusing on the ground in front of him, only daring to look up again when he heard everyone's wheels turning, the crew back on the road and heading home without any other incidents."

\--

He'd been pretty lucky so far, able to keep from seeing any blood for a long time. Unfortunately, his luck didn't hold out forever. It happened on a Saturday, and it came upon Michael suddenly.

"Michael, Michael look! I'm not the only clumsy cook!"

Gavin hurried over to the front door, grinning as Michael walked in, looking somewhat confused.

"What?"

Ryan walked in, rolling his eyes as he held up his hand, a makeshift bandage of paper towels wrapped around his thumb, the towel soaked red from a fresh cut. Michael stared at it, panicking as he felt his head go woozy, eyes rolling back and then- nothing.

\--

"...chael?"

"Michael?"

"Did he wake up?"

"I think we should call an ambulance."

"Don't fuckin do that..."

Michael grumbled, groaning quietly as he rubbed at his eyes. A flurry of his boyfriends' voices started spouting questions at him but he didn't answer, trying to recall what had just happened. Feeling something soft under him, he looked up to see that he had been pulled into Jack's lap, the older man cradling him carefully. He sat up a little, looking around at his lovers. Ryan and Gavin looked especially scared, and one look to them helped Michael recall what happened. He'd seen the blood from Ryan's hand injury and fainted on the spot. His cheeks started to burn with embarrassment as he pushed himself up into a standing position, Geoff holding out his hands in case Michael stumbled.

"I'm fine, guys. I'll be fine."

"I think we'll be the judge of that, considering you just fucking fainted out of nowhere!"

"Is Ryan's hand okay?"

"What?!"

Gavin and Ryan said in time, looking at Michael with disbelief.

"Can you go bandage him up properly first. Like for real, I'll be fine, he's still over there with an open wound."

Ryan looked unsure, not wanting to leave. Jack took the initiative, mumbling something to Ryan and making the older man follow him into the bathroom to bandage up his hand. Geoff, Gavin, and Ray followed Michael as the man sat down on the couch, sighing and scratching at his head, unsure of how to go about explaining himself.

"Did you hurt yourself somehow lately?"

Geoff asked, breaking the silence first.

"Or are you feeling sick? Like have you been lightheaded all day?"

Ray joined in now.

"Are you anemic or something? That was a straight up faint you did there, you know?"

"I know, Gav. I'm not hurt, or sick, well not technically or anything."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"I-I dunno, fuck, just calm down it's nothing, really."

"It didn't seem like nothing."

Michael looked up and ignored Gavin's comment, Ryan and Jack returning, Ryan's hand freshly bandaged. Everyone settled in around him, waiting for an explanation. Michael was still red-faced, embarrassment continuing to flood over him. He looked at his hands, fiddling with his fingers a bit.

"Okay so, when I was like really young, like 8 or something, I was outside playing with some friends. And I lived in a busy part of Jersey, so assholes were always speeding up and down our street, and there was like a minor accident about once every couple weeks. But this one time, it wasn't minor, and me and my friends went over because we saw it happen and all I could remember seeing was just red, so.... so much red on the street, cuz someone got hurt really bad."

Everyone was silent, staring at him with serious looks and listening carefully to Michael, taking him fully serious, which helped lessen his embarrassment.

"S-So seeing that sort of fucked up something in me, and ever since I've been scared of blood. Like scared to the point that I see it, I faint. Which is what happened."

He looked up from his hands, trying to gauge the reactions on everyone's faces, but not being quite sure. Ryan looked a bit guilty, now realizing what had made Michael pass out in the first place. He opened his mouth to apologize, but the younger man cut him off.

"You better not be about to say sorry, it wasn't your fault. I should've told you guys months ago, I guess I was just scared you guys would tease me."

"Aww Michael, I know we're dicks, but we know when not to cross a line."

Geoff held out his hand, taking Michael's and rubbing it comfortingly, as if to drive home the point that they wouldn't tease him for such a serious fear. Michael smiled a little, feeling incredibly relieved. Ryan made a little noise, as though he'd thought of something, making the group turn to him.

"I guess that means blood play is totally out, then?"

"Jesus Christ, Ryan!"

"Oh, you're all going to start judging me,  _now_?"

The group started to argue over the kink Ryan mentioned, Michael just keeping quiet and laughing to himself in the background, incredibly thankful to have been blessed with such strange but understanding boyfriends.


End file.
